Reflective Essay Religions & Sustainability

Answer

Introduction
Sustainable living can be termed as a practical idea meant to reduce individual and societal environmental impacts by creating positive changes that deal with climatic changes and other negative environmental factors. It encourages people not to misuse the Earth’s resources to maintain sustainability. Hence, through the integration of the environmental 2030 Agenda, religious groups play a crucial role in ensuring sustainable living. The groups act as instruments in educating people on better sustainable behaviors and lifestyles to have a balanced ecosystem (Niamir-Fuller, Özdemir& Brinkman, 2016). Failure to achieving sustainability leads to extreme poverty, which lowers people’s way of living. Therefore, this essay reflects on what religions contribute to the great work of living sustainably and worldviews of indigenous people that make the strongest impact and difference towards sustainability.
Discussion
a. What religion contribute to great work of sustainability
Almost every religion, especially Abrahamic, upholds sustainable living by promoting good behaviors and moral responsibilities among the faithful (Niamir-Fuller, Özdemir& Brinkman, 2016). Today's environment is facing destructions such as desertification, pollution, climatic change, and deforestation, which cannot be solved only through science and technology. Hence, religion plays a significant role since it’s a key determinant of human moral responsibilities and behaviors. It teaches and guides believers on behaviors and morals they should adopt to conserve the environment in order to support sustainable living. Environmental degradation mostly affects the poor and marginalized communities. For instance, high poverty levels put American Indians at the very bottom of every social factor, thus raising the level of community dysfunctionality, which again increases the lack of sustainable living. The lack of sustainability makes them more susceptible to political and economic external forces (Tinker, 2008). However, religions help in achieving sustainability by agreeing on the importance of environmental ethics because if it lacks, poverty levels will increase. Their call is to have the poor be integrated into society by providing them with equal opportunities for development like education and societal participation. They give donations and take care of the needy to uplift their livelihoods without interfering with the ecosystem.
Also, religions contribute to the great work of living sustainability by building institutions that address environmental changes like pollution, biodiversity loss, water use, and sustainable lands. These institutions foster the fundamental change in the majority individuals' thoughts and not just the minority (Niamir-Fuller, Özdemir& Brinkman, 2016). For instance, the American Indian and indigenous people are said to have some mystical and spiritual insights about environmental issues facing the world today. Additionally, there are racists concerns that powerful Whites use their positions to condemn American Indian environmental care. Besides, other people just abuse the natural world for the lack of resources and technology to preserve the ecosystem (Tinker, 2008). Hence, religions are paying attention to such beliefs and theoretical arguments to address sustainable living by creating institutions that will guide and direct people in the right path of conserving the environment. The institutions are also meant to provide resources necessary for sustainability. They again serve as platforms for holding dialogues among scientists, technologists, and religious scholars to develop a lasting solution towards sustainable living, preventing environmental destruction, thus lowering poverty levels.
b. Worldview, values, beliefs, and practices of indigenous people that make the strongest impact and biggest difference in sustainable living
There are various worldview, values, beliefs, and practices of indigenous people that make the strongest impact and biggest difference in sustainable living. First, the indigenous people who include the American Indians believe in reciprocity, which a fundamental aspect of humans’ participation in balancing and uniting the world. This concept starts with an understanding that everything that people do affects the world around us. Hence, when people decide to destroy the environment, they will face serious consequences like poverty, which lowers sustainable living. Again, other ceremonial sacrifices practiced by the indigenous people like hunting and war also strongly impact sustainable living. Such activities disrupt the eco-balance and natural world. Therefore, religion takes the responsibility to advocate for the conservation of crops, birds, and animals from destructive individuals to maintain sustainability (Tinker, 2008). Again, in the past, the early Neolithic village had adopted a culture of mounding building, domesticating plants, and erecting complex shelters. Such widespread practices led to high environmental degradation, thus lowering sustainability (Berry, 1990). Meanwhile, these outdated beliefs and practices should be eliminated from the civilized world to enhance sustainable living.
In fact, to promote sustainability in the world today, religions have adopted various practices, values, and beliefs to make the most significant impacts and differences in the matter. Churches and Christian-based organizations have advocated for inclusivity in society, ensuring that no one is left behind in sensitizing the community towards sustainability. They emphasize sustainable education to help in human development. In addition, the Islamic religion is best known for its promotion of sustainable living. Its preparedness in times of natural disasters and offering relief services through various relief programs like Islamic Relief Worldwide help to improve peoples’ lives. Therefore, these actions help prevent environmental degradation as individuals try to exhaust what has been left in the natural world to support their lives (Tan-Chow, 2016). Hence, contemporary religious beliefs and practices can also be said to impact sustainable living highly.
Conclusion
To conclude, people contribute differently to the great work of sustainability. They achieve this by upholding good behaviors and morals that promotes living sustainably. They also create institutions that help to address issues affecting the sustainable living. The indigenous people, like American Indians, had different beliefs and practices that highly affected sustainability. For instance, they believed in reciprocity and practiced ceremonial events such as hunting, crop domestication, and house building, all of which affected sustainability.